November 14, 2010

Bears give us a first half that even a cynic could love

The Bears were sloppy offensively again, but then, they probably always will be. Jay Cutler threw two interceptions, they struggled in the red zone, they committed some bad penalties. Yeah, they were sloppy again against Minnesota.

But here’s the thing: Every team will be sloppy. It’s just a matter of how sloppy, how crucial the mistakes, and how a team responds, and before you think I’m going to trash an important divisional win, just stop right there. I’m impressed. Specifically, I’m impressed with the first half. The Bears weren’t dominant, but they were good and smart on the field and on the sidelines, and the offense, defense and special teams responded like a first-place team.

The defense forced Brett Favre into an intentional grounding that helped the Vikings miss a field goal, an opportunity the Bears eventually stuck in the end zone for a go-ahead score. But that touchdown came with some wonderful credentials.

Cutler hit Greg Olsen for a touchdown on a throwback screen on third-and-7 at the Vikings’ 10, but no. Olin Kruetz was flagged for holding. But look at that: On third-and-14 from the Vikings’ 17, Cutler got great protection and whipped a perfect pass to Olsen again at the goal line. No flags. This one counted. This one gave the Bears a 7-3 lead in the face of a potentially killer mistake.

What’s more, in going 71 yards after Ryan Longwell missed a field goal, Cutler completed all three third-down passes. That’s a 10-point swing and a lot of credit to Mike Martz’s creative play-calling and better offensive line play.

Next, after Favre burned Tim Jennings and Chris Harris for a 53-yard bomb to Percy Harvin, Rashied Davis returned a low kickoff 31 yards to the Vikings’ 49. The offense then turned a third-and-long into a Devin Hester touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Then, when Favre made it seem like he would orchestrate something in the final minute of the first half, Henry Melton popped the ball out of Favre’s hand and Tommie Harris recovered to preserve the lead at halftime.

Maybe this season’s Bears have forced me to lower my standards, but I was still impressed. They were opportunistic, they were clutch, and they were better than the Vikings. It took coaching, execution and character in a gotta-have-it game at home. I know problems remain, and I know the Bears were playing a team with a worse record, but still, that first half was impressive enough to make me rethink where this thing might go.

And then came the third quarter. That’s where Stevie Sunshine gulps. The offense threatened to cost the Bears in a big way. Three times the defense and special teams gave the offense a short field. Three times the offense reached the red zone. Three times the offense failed to get into the end zone -- two field goals and a Cutler pick in the end zone. How big would those lost points become?

Not very, it turned out. Not with the Bears’ defense and special teams continuing their excellence.

And not with the offense executing a brilliant call by Martz.

On third-and-inches at the Vikings’ 19 midway through the fourth quarter of a 20-13 game, Cutler worked a brilliant play-action fake to hit a wide-open Kellen Davis for a touchdown. That would close the scoring for the game. That would close the Vikings for this season. That would close Brad Childress in Minnesota.

It wasn’t so much that Martz called another balanced game, it was his calling play-action and screens to buy Cutler some time. And thank goodness Cutler is athletic enough to buy himself a lot of brilliance with his elusiveness as the Bears converted a shocking 11 of 19 third downs. The offensive line tried to man up the way line coach Mike Tice demanded earlier in the week, but this is still trouble.

The Bears defense allowed only one of nine third-down conversions, picked off Favre three times, forced him to fumble, and held lifelong nemesis Adrian Peterson to just 51 rushing yards. The special teams averaged 44 yards on three kickoff returns and 23.5 on two punt returns, with Devin Hester accounting for 147 of the Bears’ 179 return yards. Plus, the Vikings couldn’t return any of Brad Maynard’s four punts, one of which was downed at the 1-yard line again. Defense and special teams -- welcome to Lovie Smith’s Utopia.

A little love for Rashied Davis: He gave the Bears a big kickoff return that set up a touchdown pass to Hester, he threw a big block to spring Hester on another return, and when Johnny Knox went out with an injury, Davis caught a third-and-6 pass that kept alive a drive that culminated in Kellen Davis’ clinching touchdown.

Comments

Anyone who thought that this win was less than impressive is just ridiculous. Great win, good o-line play, and what is Devin Hester doing being a weapon again. I'm not going to say anything more than that, and that the week 3 win against the pack turned out to be HUGE.

Why no mention of the outstanding series/ game that Lance Briggs had? Two giant open field solo tackles and an interception. Why am I the only one who noticed that he was absent from the two dog losses, against the Seahawks and Skins?

Good for you Steve.I'm sure that YOU never thought that the Bears would be 6-3 leading there Divison after 9 games. Just as impressive they have beaten every other team in the division. I don't believe this team has peaked yet. The special teams and de will kept this team in most games and the offence will get better.

Well, 6-3. Don't know how Chicago's going to handle this now. Maybe the Bears will do us all a favor and lose the next four games, so this silliness can end and Bears fans can sleep at night again knowing that all is right with the world.

I live in Denver but now follow the Bears because of Cutler. Thus I read the newspaper all the time on the internet. The one thing I can say is that this writer, rosen whatever his name is, really thinks he is something special. Week in week out, you can see him sitting at the computer smiling at how clever he thinks he is. "I am impressed." Who gives a damn if you are impressed Rosen whatever. I think your writing sucks and you should really take a look in the mirror. Dude, your career is as a sports writer. You make like no money yet you are so impressed with yourself. That says it all to be honest with you.

What's your tax return look like, sweetie? And if "Rosen whatever" (seriously? "Rosen whatever?" What are you, 10?) is such an awful, terrible, no-good, talentless bad writer, why do you read him "week in week out?" And it seems you answer your own question, since it's pretty clear YOU "give a damn" if he is impressed with himself.

As for the Bears and whether or not they're any good . . . I still am unconvinced . . . something just doesn't feel right about the team. It's hard to feel too good about a team that lost to Seattle and Washington. On the other hand, I think the struggles of the offense have diverted attention away from a defense that has quietly put together a really good year so far, and special teams have continued to be an area of strength for the Bears, Robbie Gould's inexplicable loss of accuracy aside.

The offense is certainly not going to be great this year - the running game is still a concern and you can count on Cutler to make at least one bad decision per game, it seems - but if they can simply become more consistent and the defense and special teams can continue their high level of play, the Bears should have a chance to contend for the NFC North.

About the author

They tell me I have to write this bio thing to go along with my blog. Not sure you care, but the bosses apparently do, so here you go:

I've covered sports for more than 30 years in print, on radio and now in cyberspace. In that time, I've smoked cigars with Michael Jordan, Mike Ditka and Red Auerbach, I've been thrown on a table by NHL all-time bad boy Dave "Tiger'' Williams, I've covered the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, I've had former Bears lineman Stan Thomas act like he was going to squeeze my head like a zit, I've interviewed Roger Clemens, Hank Aaron and Donald Trump, I've been cursed at by Mike Keenan, I've watched Denis Savard go into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I've been yelled at by Bill Wirtz, I talked sports with Ben Affleck at the World Series of Poker, and I cry almost every time I see Jim Craig skate up the ice looking for his dad in the stands as the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team wrote the greatest sports story ever. Ever.